Hi...I am Laura and am 36yrs old. I am not a seller on eBay but am a HUGE BUYER!!!! Since I am disabled and mostly bedridden or wheelchair bound with a progessive illness, buying online is a neccesity for me! I do ALL of my shopping online and think it is truly a life saver for me, so thanks to ALL of you that sell here on ebay and make life easier for folks like myself :)

 I am married to the most wonderful man and we have been together for 18yrs now. We have 4 wonderful children (I know...all moms brag) but they truly are great. They are the very best of friends and very rarely even argue with each other. Their ages are 13, 12, 11, and 10yrs of age. Yes...they are very close in age! They are all straight A students that are in honor classes and are also involved in outside activities.

My daughter horseback rides, I have a son that is a great guitar player, one plays baseball and has a real talent for it, and my other son is more into computer and video games.

Me and my family

About me.....I feel that I really want to help others in any way I can so I hope my story can help someone, somehow. I have lived in the same general area of Texas all of my life and have not really travelled much. I became a firefighter at the age of 16 and then found that the EMS (since they worked so close with the fire dept) was VERY interesting to me. I took classes and became an EMT, and then went on to become a paramedic. After realizing that lifestyle would not work well in the future when I had a family, I decided that after 3yrs of it that I would go to school to work in the operating room as a surgical assistant.

I loved that job and I loved the operating room and hospital atmosphere. After having joint pains since a young child, my new career in the O.R. was too much for me to handle due to the long hours of standing. I knew the medical field was my true love so I found Ultrasound! I went to school (again) and found that ultrasound was the most amazing and rewarding job. I worked as an ultrasonographer for many hospitals and worked tons of hours and loved every minute of it. The only problem was that my health was getting worse and worse and NO doctor could pinpoint the main cause. Meanwhile I pushed on through my career which was a mind over matter kind of thing since my body was saying NO but my mind loved my job so much that it was saying YES.

After 8yrs of pushing my body to the limit.....the inevitable happened. I landed myself in the hospital and my entire life spiraled downhill from there. I at least finally received my diagnosis and it was not what I wanted to hear.

I was diagnosed with P.O.T.S (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) which means my autonomic nervous system is abnormal and cannot perform ANY body function normally that you body would normally do on it's own......like breathing, digestion, body temperature regulation, blood pressure regulation, pulse rate, etc. So, for me, I have constant tachycardia (fast heart rate) which has weakend my heart and can cause heart failure. I have also had strokes from the lack of blood/oxygen to my brain. On top of all this, just standing causes my blood pressure to drop dangerously low and I will pass out (calles NCS, neurocardiogenic syncope). I was also diagnosed with Ehler's Danlos Syndrome which is a connective tissue disorder that affects my heart, blood vessels, and the worst part....my joints. The pain becomes debilitating that walking can be impossible. My joints also dislocate all the time for no reason (due to EDS) and the pain is horrible. Even the disc's in my back aren't steady and slip back and forth.

I have had some joint surgeries but they did not help. I have tried ALL the treatments for these conditions and even flew to the Mayo Clinic to see specialists and all the doctors have no other options for me, they can only treat my symptoms (like pain) and I am on some heavy duty medications and even those don't make me functional. I am not trying to throw a pity party....I am a very positive person which is why I am still here today! I just hope that maybe someone can learn something from my story.

(((HUGS))) to my friends in eBay land!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!